Here are 2 stripped down pics of the paint job. The tail needs repair and all the tape needs to be reattached. The pics aren't the best, their from a camera phone. For tail repairs I plan to reinforce things with either a piece of wire or carbon fiber rod. The hinges are torn on one elevator and the rudder is bent and torn at the top. I will use a good tape after the painting is done. I also have a set of decals coming Thursday for the windshield/windows.

I am pretty sure once I stiffen up the tail section it will fly fine. I also have new props, wheels, and spinners so don't mind the over-spray. I will probably paint the stripes on tomorrow after work.

I have a question about using the motor from the um p-51 on the champ.. I read where it will take flight time with stock battery down to like 5 minutes. Why is that so if the UM p-51 comes with a 120 mah battery?

Dave,

There is more to the picture than flight-time. Thrust is the true measure of cell performance.

The P-51 comes with a battery that is too small for the application. Hence, why subsequent planes that use the same motor & gearing as the P-51 (Sukhoi XP, 4-Site, T-28, UMX Extra 300, F4U) come with the Eflite 150 cell. But the Eflite 150 still limits performance - especially with the 5043 prop.

To get full performance from the P-51-style motor w/5043 prop, you need high-performance cells, such as the Hyp 160, 180, 240, or 320 mAh cells. Plus, the Hyperions can be charged @ 5c for 300-400 cycles with no loss in performance.

Here are 2 stripped down pics of the paint job. The tail needs repair and all the tape needs to be reattached. The pics aren't the best, their from a camera phone. For tail repairs I plan to reinforce things with either a piece of wire or carbon fiber rod. The hinges are torn on one elevator and the rudder is bent and torn at the top. I will use a good tape after the painting is done. I also have a set of decals coming Thursday for the windshield/windows.

I am pretty sure once I stiffen up the tail section it will fly fine. I also have new props, wheels, and spinners so don't mind the over-spray. I will probably paint the stripes on tomorrow after work.

Be careful to add enough nose weight. Painting a plane will make it tail heavy.

Got some of the stripes on today. Wheels came in and so did spinners. Still waiting on 5043 props. Should be tomorrow. Tomorrow I will also finish the stripes, reinforce the tail section, counterweight the nose, and do final assembly.

Thursday the decal set will be in and I will add the windows back on. I have other decals for some tail numbers.

Having gotten sick of all the prop hits, I finally did a wheel mod... using the entire landing gear from my scrapped Megatech Cosmic Flyer (flyer my ). Some initial ROG and toss-n-land tests suggest this is going to make an enormous difference. Please kindly ignore the crash rash...

Tracking on the ground was SO much better! I could actually yank to full power and head out straight instead of being forced to gingerly ease up the throttle while fighting, white-knuckled the entire time, to keep the thing from careening off to one side or over-correct to the other. And inevitably failing and either crashing or horsing the plane off the ground.

Landing seemed a little easier too. I put the battery a little further back as it seemed somewhat nose heavy with the thicker wire and bigger tires.

While I was at it I looped a small rubber band over the gear before installing; I'll use this to keep the battery from flopping loose every time I look at it funny.

Thanks! It does still fit in the box, but the nose part doesn't nestle down in as before. The wheels simply bottom out on the cardboard at the bottom so the nose/wings sit about 1" higher.

I should mention I haven't flown patterns around the park yet. Once I get an impression of any flight changes I'll post up. Since I desperately need to practice my landings (without chewing up more props) I think it'll be worth some sacrifice in flying performance.

Btw, it looks like this landing gear is still available from a few sources for ~ $15

I did something a bit different: I went with Dubro 1.23" sport wheels for mains, and Dubro micro wheels [3/8" dia] on the tail. I also decided that I preferred the 110x80mmx3-blade Corsair micro prop to the stock 2-blade.

Trials on the props using a spare shaft on a dremmel had the 3-blade pulling behind only by a hair, and the motor runs faster with the 3-blade, due to the smaller diamater, and slightly lower shaft loading compared to the 2-blade.

My 2 Micro Champs seem to run really well with these mods, and I can land nicely in taller grass. I have also done grass rollouts on TO in 1"+ grass fields, and the prop seemed to clear fine, as the plane just took off and started flying - not quite as fast as on pavement, but not bad...

Pic below... BTW, I find that landing the Champ under a touch of power, then flaring last minute as you cut throttle really makes for a nice landing. Keep the elevator up about 1/2 if the surface is rougher, or lumpy.

I have a recommendation with regards to protecting the Champ. On the first day, I pretty much wrapped the whole thing in tape. It looked ugly then, but the beauty is starting to emerge. I barely have a scratch on my heavily used and damaged Champ.

Although all the damage to my Champ was inflicted during the first 2 days of owning it fortunately, I must say the tape has really played a big role in keeping it looking good.

Better than buying a new fuse every two months or so, let's see how long I can keep it like this